Wednesday 10 August 2011

Before Trying To Change the World!!.


I am in no doubt that you are all aware of the horrendous events taking place in the UK at present. Gangs of wild youths roaming the streets at night, looting shops, committing arson by setting fire to property. It is indeed sad to watch and to read about.

Yes there is much to be said about what is wrong with society. But I think we need to be aware that no matter how bad things are there is never an excuse for such greed and reckless behaviour. It broke my heart to watch a young lad who had got caught up in all of this sitting at the side of the road with blood coming from a wound caused by some missile. As he sat some other louts came along, rather than help him they stole all of his possessions and swaggered off.

Even as I write my heart feels heavy, where are we heading and how did we ever get here.

But it is not all bad. I began by saying taking place here in the UK. Sadly that is what is said in the press and on TV day by day. The truth is it is not the UK it is only in England. Yesterday some lout opened a webpage in Facebook here in Scotland, “ Lets start a riot in Glasgow.” Almost instantly another site opened,” Lets not start a riot in Glasgow.’ This site was swamped with people saying NO loud and clear. Today two young persons are to appear in court for trying to incite unrest, thanks to the goodness of people who still care about society. It returns you faith in human beings.   
There is a lovely little story that makes a similar moral.
 Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.
Then one of his wise servant dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet ?"
The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.
There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story : to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.

Have a good day and lets not have a riot in Glasgow.

This blog is linked to my other .   The Mirage

6 comments:

  1. I have been waiting for your reaction to these riots, Ralph, sad but a bit predictable. Glasgow? I don't know? Reminds me of "Clockwork Orange" and the difficulty in gaining an identity in this modern world. Peace Bro.

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  2. Well said, Ralph. It is a sad world we live in now.

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  3. Good post Ralph, and yes, sadness all around the world.. unrest , no one is at peace and I fear that it will be getting worse.. Sad times. BJ

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  4. I confess I did not know that all that was happening in England. Thank goodness Scotland is taking a firm stand and not tolerating even the suggestion of a riot there! It will be interesting to see how the whole thing is handled. Hopefully the rioters and the government will both come to realize that their situation is similar to a three year old throwing a temper tantrum in the store. Do we give in to his demands just to quiet him for now? Or do we take him outside and sit in the car until he stops carrying on? Anyway, I hope it calms down soon with few people getting injured.

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  5. so sorry for the riots. It just seems to do good for the people who are upset. That said..it was good to do a bit of catching up on blogs including yours.

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  6. Nice to see you're back, hope you're feeling better. Yes it is a sad world we live in and some of the sights being shown are very upsetting. I agree that the young student who was mugged summed it all up. How on earth can we call ourselves civilised when we don't help one another. Good samaritan comes to mind. Hope it gets resolved soon.

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